Rum Jungle’s unfussed approach dates all the way back to their origin, when singer/guitarist Benny McIntyre started hosting acoustic jams with his future bandmates on his share-house balcony in seaside Newcastle [Southeast Australia]. The quartet nurtured that breezy, affable vibe across a series of four EPs, starting in 2017. Yet, even a track as laidback as 2020’s “Keep” still evokes the lurching indie rock of Arctic Monkeys, thanks to McIntyre’s groggy vocals and a prodigious guitar solo. Other songs alternately evoke the tightly wound jangle of Phoenix (2022’s “Upbeat Lord”) and the loose and jammy melodicism of Ocean Alley (the same year’s “Everything Is Easy”), showcasing Rum Jungle’s comfort across quite different modes of delivery. All that time spent slowly working away at their sound paid off handsomely on their 2025 debut album Recency Bias, which cracked the Top 10 of the ARIA Albums Chart and provided a permanent home for the frisky 2024 earworm “Weather’s Better.” It also spawned plaintive, tousled tunes like “Don’t Be a Stranger,” which paints a poignant image of McIntyre flying out of Heathrow—presumably on one of the band’s many overseas tours—while fixated on eventually reuniting with a special someone.